Schneider, a hit man, gets a call from Mertens on the morning of his birthday. He has a rush job for Schneider who refuses it, because it is his birthday and he has promised Lucy, his wife, to help her with the preparations for the dinner party. Mertens insists that it is an important matter. When they meet in Mertens’ office, Schneider is told that the target is Ramon Bax, a writer. He lives alone in a secluded place. “It’s an easy job. With a little luck you’re back home before noon. ” Schneider accepts the assignment. Bax, over sixty, is staying at his summer house on the edge of a lake surrounded by reeds. He is recovering from a night of drugs and alcohol. When he remembers that his daughter Francisca is coming to see him today, he heartlessly gets rid of his young mistress Nadine. Francisca arrives. She is depressed and unhappy, and her father does not know how to deal with her. He urges her to take drugs and compares her unfavorably with her sister. They quarrel and she starts to cry. Bax suppresses his discomfort with a joint, vodka and some haphazardly chosen pills. What seems to be a simple job turns out to be more than expected.